Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field.
Fasteners, such as screws have been used for many years to permanently or temporarily fasten two or more materials together. When fastening materials together with screws, the face of the head of the screw usually remains visible to the end user. In many instances, this is not aesthetically pleasing for the end user. Accordingly, it often desired to hide screw heads by various means. Most commonly this can be achieved by filling over the screw head with wall filler, or similar compound specifically designed for this purpose, allowing the filler to dry and then sanding the area. Usually the filled area and surrounding area are painted after filling the screw heads. Unfortunately once the area has been painted, location of screw fasteners and/or removal of screws to unfasten materials is not easily possible, particularly if the fastener head has been obscured or hidden by means of filler material and/or paint. Furthermore, removal of screws in such installations generally cannot be achieved without damage to the area and possibly the installation.
Whilst the above procedure is effective in hiding screw heads used to secure unfinished building materials, it is generally not effective in hiding screw heads fastened into prefinished material, for example, pre painted materials. In some instances, it is known to colour match screw heads to surrounding colour. However, for a manufacturer, this means that large stock holdings in a large variety of colours are required to be able to meet consumer demands.
Location of screw fasteners is easier for prefinished screws than for filled and over coated installations, but removal of prefinished fasteners risks damaging the finish and does not allow for location of fastening points or removal of the fasteners.